


All it takes

by KaixChan



Category: Mortal Instruments Series - Cassandra Clare
Genre: Angst, Blood, M/M, Malec, Post CoLS, happy!ending
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-09-20
Updated: 2013-09-20
Packaged: 2017-12-27 04:08:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,272
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/974146
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KaixChan/pseuds/KaixChan
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Three months have passed since the break up. Alec turned to alcohol to "drown his sorrows", but what happens when he becomes a random victim of a drive by shooting? Will Magnus even care?</p>
            </blockquote>





	All it takes

**Author's Note:**

> I have no idea where I get my ideas. It came to me and wouldn't leave until I typed something out. It was fun writing this though and I hope you all enjoy it!

Drive by shootings weren’t an uncommon thing. The news often told stories of how innocent victims were shot; sometimes ending in a tragedy, other times with a simple surgery and life continued as normal. 

Alec figured that those things happened to mundanes and not Shadowhunters. It made sense when he thought about it, with their heightened senses and abilities to sense danger easier than mundanes could. However, alcohol, no matter if the person was a Shadowhunter, Downworlder, or mundane, always dimmed your natural instincts and senses.

The Lightwood found that fact out the hard way, approximately three months after he had been so stupid and screwed up the best thing to ever happen in his life. Alcohol became an escape for him, the burning liquid seeping down his throat making him forget the way those cat eyes looked at him when their owner said, _“I never want to see you again.”_

Jace had broken his new phone after his _parabatai_ tried to call the High Warlock on multiple occasions, and after that, his life started a downward spiral. Alec never cared much about petty things like his appearance, but it became even worse once he started drinking. His whole life became worse once he picked up the habit, but it eased the heartache in his chest more than he thought possible.

Walking down the streets of New York, the Shadowhunter clutches a can of beer between his unhealthy pale fingers. He never went out much anymore; only to get his latest booze bender, and even then it was for a few minutes. He downs the substance, having gotten used to the wood taste weeks ago. Alec grins, a sadistic one that twists his face in an expression that would scare even Jace, as he makes his way to angel knows where.

He doesn’t hear the car whiz by him, but he does hear the pop of a gun and the excruciating pain seconds later. Blood bubbles out of his mouth and he makes a fist over his stomach, his skin soon becoming stained with red. Alec gags, feeling his life’s blood bleed out on the street, and bitterly, he thinks _This is how it ends? How pathetic._

As he walks a path that, in his drunken, pained state is unfamiliar to him, his life flashes before his eyes. The good times, the bad times, the times where he was the happiest person in the world. A tiny smile pulls at his lips as he recognizes all of the happy times, he was with none other than the High Warlock of Brooklyn, Magnus Bane.

 _I screwed that up,_ the Shadowhunter monologues, coughing up blood. The red stains the sidewalk, and it isn’t long before he sees his vision start to fuzz at the ends. He knows his life is ending, and he could probably prolong it if he stopped moving, but something, someone, was telling him to keep moving.

Alec stops in front of a familiar door. The corner of his mouth quirks upwards as he realizes he somehow managed to walk to his ex-boyfriend’s apartment. “Why am I here?” he mutters, gaging on blood. “He never wants to see me again.”

Despite that, he knocks on the door, his hand shaking as chills begin to rack through his body. If he was going to die, he wanted to at least _try_ to see the Warlock one last time. 

The door opens, causing Alec’s brows to furrow, but he pays it no attention as he makes his way up the stairs. The familiarity of everything causes a warm feeling to explode in his chest, but it’s soon cut off as he once again coughs out blood on the stairs. “He’s going to be pissed,” the Shadowhunter mumbles, feeling blood trickle down the side of his mouth.

Surprisingly (or maybe not), Magnus’ apartment door is open, so Alec pushes it open with the little strength he has left. A feeling of euphoria rushes through him when he sees his former lover, sprawled out on the couch and flicking through channels on his flat screen TV. Dimly, he notices several take out containers on the floor, but he ignores it, deciding instead to say a name with as much strength as he could muster.

“Magnus…”

The Warlock freezes in his channel flipping. His head turns, slowly, to stare at Alec, and his cat eyes widen once he takes in the blood gathering around the boy. “Alexander,” he says after a few seconds of silence, “What in the world…?”

“Shot,” is all the Shadowhunter can say before he collapses on the floor, all of his strength leaving his exhausted body. He hears movement and seconds later, the Warlock is knelt next to him with his hand shaking over his wound, blue sparks flying from his fingertips. “I…”

“Shh, darling.” Magnus soothes, using his free hand to tousle black locks before focusing all his attention on the injury. The pain dissipates a few minutes later and Alec coughs out the last bit of blood stuck in his throat. “Better?”

The Shadowhunter says nothing. His eyes lose the fuzzy edges and he can focus more clearly on the man before him. Fear, worry, and relief are easily read in the Warlock’s eyes, and Alec can’t help but say, “What’s with all the takeout containers?”

Magnus narrows his eyes before his body convulses with strained laughter. “Alexander Gideon Lightwood, you almost died on my floor and you’re asking me about takeout containers?”

“…Yes?”

The Warlock presses his knuckles against his forehead. “You’re incredible.” Silence passes between them for a few moments before Magnus speaks again. “Why do you remind me of a drunkard with your expression and how you smell?”

Alec looks around the room, eyes darting around nervously before they set themselves on the Downworlder he still loves above everything else. “I may or may not have turned to alcohol to “drown my sorrows”, so to speak.”

“You did what?” is all Magnus can say before his eyes widen. “Why would you—“

“I realized how stupid I was to let the best thing that ever happened to me get away over my insecurities,” the Shadowhunter mumbles, blaming his drunken and still pained state for the tears pricking at the corner of his eyes. “I should have realized that the past shouldn’t matter; you loved me and that should have been enough.”

The Warlock stares at Alec, his expression unreadable, before his eyes soften and a tiny smile tugs at the corner of his lips. “Yes, well, you can see I haven’t been doing well myself.” He waves a hand towards the various containers littering the floor. “I decided to drown my sorrows with Taki’s and Chinese food.”

Alec allows himself to laugh before he sits up, wincing at the pain in his stomach. “All I wanted was for you to forgive me,” he says, looking at his bloodstained hands, “If I had that, then—“

“You are forgiven, Alexander.” A chaste kiss against the Shadowhunter’s lips silences him. “You are forgiven. I realized the moment I saw you dying on my floor that I’m still not prepared to let you go; I don’t think I ever will be.”

A genuine smile, the first one in months, spreads across Alec’s face as he wraps his arms around the Warlock, the embrace being returned with just as much strength. They stay that way for several minutes before the Shadowhunter exclaims, “I guess I’ll have to help you clean up the blood _and_ the takeout containers.”

Magnus laughs, shaking his head, an amused expression adorning his features. “After you’ve healed, of course.”


End file.
